Abdominal supporter



(No Model.) 2 Sheets- Sheet 1.

11.11. B'A'LTZELL, ABDOMINAL SUPPOBTER. No. 540,710. Patented June 11, 1895.

(No Model.) v K M BALTZELL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. ABDOMINAL SUPPORTER.

N0. 540,710. Patented June .11, 1895.

mz "cams PETERS ca. PHOYD-LIYHO WASHINGTON. u c.

NITED STATES PATE T OFFICE.

KATE M. BALTZELL, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

ABDOMINAL SUPPORTER.

SPECIFIGATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 540,710, dated June 11, 1895.

Applioatlonfiled Au ust, 1894. semi No. 519,641. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern..-

Be it known that I, KATE M. BALTZELL, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Oakland, county of Alameda, and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Abdominal Bandages and Supporters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements made in surgical bandages, and more especially to the kind or description of bandage known as abdominal bandages and abdominal supporters. Y

The object sought to be attained in and by these improvements is, mainly, the production of a surgical bandage for special use in laparotomy; and in. other operations during or subsequent to childbirth; but also especially producing a surgical bandage and supporter useful in the treatment of female complaints and weaknesses.

The invention includes also the production of an improved bandage or support for the treatment of relaxed or weakened muscles of the abdomen and back; and for use in connection with pads for the cure of hernia, and

fully described and pointed out in the claims,

of the class or description named, having several points and features of advantage that render it especially effective in. attaining results not heretofore reached by other appliances of the kind.

The following description explains the nature of my said improvements, and the manner in which Iconstruct and produce surgical bandages of various kinds and for special purposes in accordance with the same, reference being had to the drawings that accompany and form part of this specification.

Figure 1 of the said drawings represents, in front elevation, an abdominal bandage embodying myimprovements. Fig. 2 is .a back view. Fig. 3 is a side view. Fig.4 is a back view, partly open. Figs. 5 and 5? represent diagrams of the patterns from which I cut and form the principal parts of the bandage. Fig. 6 is aview of the front of a bandage constructed on a modified form. Fig. 7 is a back or reversed view ofthe front shown in Fig. 6. A= indicates the frontof the'bandage, and 13 the back.

0 0 are inelastic shoulder-straps united to the front and the back at points on opposite edges of the bandage where the shoulder straps are fastened as will be noticed in Figs. 1 and 2.

The front -A of the bandage is formed of the separate pieces --112-2 and 3-3 cut'substantally to the patterns indicated. by the corresponding numerals in Fig. 5 and joined together by seams that are finished fiat and smooth on the inside or on that surface of the bandage which comes next the body. The front sections 11- taper from top to bottom, and are usually united by a straight seam; but in some cases this middle seam is dispensed with by cutting the two parts -1-1 in one piece, so that there is no seam down the center of the front. The sections 2-2 are joined to sections 1, and overlapping this seam, a stay-strap of inelastic material D is secured on each side of the center of the front A- by rows of stitching from the bottom to the front. On these two inelastic strips aresecured the shoulderstraps -O at the top and tho crotch-straps E- at the bottom. The sections -2- are united to the sections 3 by a curved seam -5- extending from the point at the bottom with a greater or less degree of curvature up to the top of the front as required to. produce a smooth fit of the front to the abdomen. Across this curved seam is set a peculiar stay formed of a narrow strip 6- laid in zig-zag manner lapping over the sections and extending the full some length of the seam. These stays 4-- and -6-- are laid transversely across the seams and fastened down in the best manner to resist the principal tension and strains which the seams are required to bear.

The back -B being open in the center, 1s secured around the body by fastenings on its two flaps, such as buttons and button-holes, and also by several back straps -9-l0 and buckles 12- fastened at intervals apart along the back edges of the sections 4. Stay strips D* are fastened on sections of the back along the edges from top to bottom and to these strips are attached the shoulderstraps -C and the crotch-straps -E-- the same as at the front. Some suitably strong and flexible but practically inelastic material, such as bntchers linen or silesia or corset-fabric is recommended for the sections of these two parts; and silk and linen belting for the stays 4=6--. The front bodyportion A and the back body portion -B- thus constructed are joined together on the sides of the bandage by elastic gores formed of separate strips 14- of rubberelastic, or webbing, set in detached bands in close order above the parts AB- and secured to the edges of the sections -3 and .t at the top and the bottom, and at intervals apart between those points, but otherwise detached from one another. This construction of gore is an important feature in my invention. The separate bands --14E- acting independently on separate lines can be adjusted in length and set to draw in the direction of the greatest strains or stress that take place in the front and the back under the movements of the body of the wearer, and also under the distensions or changes in the shape of the abdomen; so that a close fit of the bandage to the whole surface can be obtained and a steady and continuous support by the bandage of particular organs or on particular lines or parts of the abdomen and the back, can be secured by setting these elastic bands and regulating their length, aceordingly,between the body-portions AB. In some cases I double the bands in this gore, particularly on those lines or between those points in the front body portion and the back body portion where excessive strains are brought. For example, I frequently place double bands at the bottom of the gore as shown at 14. Fig. 3, and in some cases I apply double bands at other points in the gore where I desire to increase the drawing or holding power of the bandage upon the surface and parts surrounded by the bandage. In such cases of doubling the bands I sometimes set the additional band at a different angle or position between the two parts A-B, as I have shown in Fig. 3, for the purpose of applying the elastic strength and action of the band in the direction of the strain or stress to be resisted.

In adapting and fitting a bandage for special use, as after the operation of laparotomy, and in the treatment of displaced organs, and also in the case of bandages for supporting weak or relaxed muscles of the abdomen, I find the best and most effective results are obtained byfollowing that construction and arrangement of parts which I have shown in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive, and have described above with reference to those figures; but in some cases I have found it of advantage to change the elastic bands l4= from the sides to the front of the bandage as shown in Fig. 6, and then joining the front -A- to the back -B- at the sides of a close seam. In this construction the two parts 3-- and -4t can be replaced by a single piece or section 3 (Fig. 5) so that no seam will be produced on the sides or the hip portions of the bandage. The same construction of gore is combined with the parts -A and -B- in this case as in the first construction mentioned and the elastic bands 14"- are inserted between the sections -l1 at the front. The stay strips are then set along the front edges of sections 11-- from top to bottom.

It should be noticed that both the staystrips D on the front and the back set in direct line with the shoulder-straps above, and the crotch-straps below, the bandage; so that the weight of the body or the parts upon which the front and back are fitted, and also the strain of the crotclrstraps, comes in line with and fall upon the strips and the straps before mentioned.

The modification which I have described with reference to Figs. 6 and 7 of the drawings is useful in the treatment of difficult cases of hernia, and particularly on female patients, and for that purpose a pad -P- of proper shape and style to suit the special case under treatment is combined with the bandage. This pad is not fastened directly to the bandage however, but is attached to its inner surface at the point of operation by means of strips P"- or rubber elastic fixed to the back of the pad and fastened at the ends to the fabric of the bandage; so that the pad is held in position and confined by the bandage and by the elastric strips without being affected by the movements of the body of the patient.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

An abdominal bandage consisting of a front formed of sections suitably connected, with the interposed non-elastic stay-strips D, on either side of the center, the shoulder and crotch straps secured to the stay-straps, the

support being opened in the back and the the direction of the strain as and for the purflaps provided with means for attaching a pose specified. 10 series of back straps and buckles to reinforce In testimony that I claim the foregoing I the same, elastic gores connecting the front have hereunto set my hand and seal.

5 and rear sections ofthe body at the side, and KATE M. BALTZELL. [L. 8.] arranged in varying lengths, said gores being Witnesses: duplicated and set at an angle with relation CHAS. D. WHEAT,

to each other to vary the strength thereof in v EDWARD E. OSBORN. 

